County Cricket Round-Up - 7th May

The Clydesdale Bank 40 was hit severely by the weather today with all six of the matches affected to some degree. As usual, the rain proved to be a great leveller with Scotland and the Netherlands both recording upsets against their county opponents.

In Group A, Leicestershire’s match against Essex suffered the most and was abandoned without a ball bowled at Grace Road.

Gloucestershire won a 26-over match by five wickets at Lord’s as they chased down Middlesex’s total of 157 for eight with 22 balls to spare. Irishman Graeme McCarter and spinner Ed Young each took three wickets in the home side’s innings, with wicket-keeper John Simpson’s cameo of 29 from 24 balls the highest score. When the Gladiators batted, a second-wicket partnership of 53 between Hamish Marshall (33 from 22 balls) and Benny Howell laid the foundations for a successful chase, with Howell finishing unbeaten on 45 when the winning runs were hit.

The South African-born Stephan Myburgh and Australian overseas player Cameron Borgas added 132 runs for the second wicket to hand the Netherlands a comfortable nine-wicket win over Worcestershire at Kidderminster. The home side had time to face 27 overs in their first innings after they had been asked to bat and they responded promisingly by making 172 for four. Mudassar Bukhari took three for 29 for the Dutch, while Vikram Solanki hit a typically stylish 63 from 80 balls for the Pears. After more rain, it was determined that the visitors would need 139 from 19 overs to win, which they easily achieved, ending on 139 for one in the 17th over.

In Group B, Scotland’s batsmen had got their team ahead on Duckworth Lewis by the time the rain came as they prevailed by 18 runs over Nottinghamshire at Edinburgh. The Outlaws had made 219 for seven from their 40 overs after being asked to bat with captain Chris Read top-scoring with 59 from 50 balls. Josh Davey and Majid Haq were the most successful Scotland bowlers, taking two wickets each from their eight overs. Davey (44 not out) then shared an unbroken first-wicket partnership of 108 with Calum MacLeod (58 not out) before the rain arrived after 23 overs and the home side were declared the victors.

Hampshire also prevailed with a little help from Messrs Duckworth and Lewis at The Rose Bowl as they came out winners by 48 runs against Glamorgan. Michael Carberry and James Vince both hit rapid half-centuries and added 142 for the first wicket after the Welsh Dragons had made 173 for seven from 34 overs. The duo were parted just before the rain came, but they had done enough, taking the home side to 151 for two in the 24th over when the D/L par score was just 103. Earlier, Stewart Walters had made 68 from 89 balls and Kabir Ali had marked his return to the Hampshire first-team by taking three for 44 from seven overs.

In Group C, several stoppages due to the weather at Northampton meant that the home side’s match against the Unicorns was eventually abandoned at the County Ground. The match was initially shortened to 10 overs aside, with the visitors posting a respectable 79 for three courtesy of handy innings from Luis Reece (27 not out from 20 balls) and Keith Parsons (20 not out from 14). However, Northamptonshire’s pursuit of that target was interrupted after 10 balls when they were on 16 for one and the points were shared.